SpaceScout™

What is SpaceScout™?

SpaceScout is an award-winning open source application designed to help students at the University of Washington find campus study spaces that meet specific criteria. It is currently available as a native iOS application from the iTunes store and as a mobile-optimized web application that can be accessed from any desktop computer or mobile device at SpaceScout.uw.edu. The app is a response to feedback from students about the difficulty of finding available study spaces that meet their needs.

The app currently includes over 200 spaces on the UW-Seattle campus and 70 spaces at UW-Tacoma. With building renovations, remodels, and upgrades continually changing the landscape of learning resources on campus, SpaceScout provides a single place to go for up-to-date information on spaces that can help students accomplish their work.

SpaceScout was developed by UW Information Technology in collaboration with UW Libraries, Housing and Food Services, and UW Computing Directors, and funded in part by the Student Technology Fee Committee. SpaceScout was released to UW Seattle as a native iOS application in August 2012, and as a web application designed for use on desktop computers or mobile devices in October 2012. UW Tacoma spaces were added in June 2013, and UW Bothell spaces will be added in the 2013-2014 school year.

Features

Campus chooser — Select which campus you'd like to view.

Map of Campus — Zoomed out, the pins show the number of spaces in campus buildings. Zoom in to see the specific location of spaces.

List View — Includes a photo of each study space, location, type of space, and number of seats.

Space Details View — Learn more about each space: view photos, see when it’s open, find out what kind of resources are available, and find out how to get there.

Favorites list (iOS app only) — Keep track of spaces you like and want to visit.

Roadmap

We have many new features planned!

Coming Summer 2013: Integration with LabStats software will allow students to see real-time availability status of computers at labs on the UW Seattle campus.

Crowd-sourcing features will allow students to rate and comment on spaces, and suggest new spaces.

Improved collaboration features will let students invite classmates to a space and email space details and location to others.

By logging in, students will be able to save favorite spaces across devices, save frequently-used filter settings, and see spaces available to a specific group (such as spaces only for students in a specific department).

An administrative interface will allow space owners to manage the data about their spaces.